Broadway's "Cinderella" will be a Twin Cities-led show

Twin Cities-trained stage stars Laura Osnes and Santino Fontana (above) will play the leads in “Cinderella” on Broadway next year, it was announced Tuesday.

Burnsville, Minn.-born Osnes, cast as Cinderella, shot to national fame in 2007 after winning an NBC reality TV show, “Grease: You're the One that I Want!” She has since starred in “South Pacific” and “Anything Goes,” and was nominated this year for a Tony for playing Bonnie in the short-lived Frank Wildhorn musical “Bonnie and Clyde.”

Fontana, who was in the inaugural 2004 class of the Guthrie Theater/University of Minnesota’s BFA training program, played Hamlet at the Guthrie. His Broadway credits include “The Importance of Being Earnest,” the 2010 revival of Arthur Miller’s “A View From The Bridge” and “Billy Elliot,” in which he played the title character's elder brother.

Fontana will play Prince Topher in the Broadway premiere of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that is based on the songwriting duo’s 1957 TV movie. Directed by Mark Brokaw with an updated book by Douglas Carter Beane, the musical also features Tony winner Harriet Harris, who teamed up with Simon Jones in “Hay Fever” at the Guthrie in March, as well as Tony winner Victoria Clark as the fairy godmother.

"Cinderella" is set to begin previews at the Broadway Theatre Jan. 21, 2013, and open Feb. 21. The cast